Torn Apart
by Mouth of Lightnin
Summary: Steven was an anomaly, he could tell you that much. Being a half-human, half-Gem hybrid wasn’t exactly normal, and he didn’t know what would happen to him if he ever got seriously hurt. No one did. He didn’t really want to explore the possibilities, either. (First SU story!)
1. A Not-so-friendly Run-in

**Hey there, readers. This, as it says in the description, is my first Steven Universe story! It's rough, to say the least, but here it is. It's short and to be honest the only reason I started it was as an excuse to write about hopefully-you-know-who, Pink Steven.**

**It's supposed to take place sometime after Little Graduation, but it could really happen anytime after Steven's encounter with Bluebird Azurite. So yes, there are spoilers for SU Future, and includes a little bit of blood. But other than that, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Light streamed in from the tall glass slide door that lead to the balcony, landing on the creamy-white of Steven's comforter and urging him to open his eyes. He did, exposing his russet brown irises to the sun, before he quickly squeezed them shut again. He yawned, got up, headed downstairs with today's clothes in his hand so he could get ready in the bathroom, when he noticed Garnet waiting for him at the kitchen table.

"Good morning, Steven," she greeted.

He smiled, suppressing another yawn. "Mornin', Garnet."

Steven didn't think much of it, and left for the bathroom to shower and dress— but the Gem was still in the kitchen waiting when he got out. This time, with Steven the cat purring in her lap.

"Shouldn't you be headed to Little Homeschool by now?" he asked, stretching. He grimaced when his black starred T-shirt shot up as he raised his arms, revealing the pink gemstone embedded where his navel would be. _Darn it, I'll be broke by the time I buy all these new clothes!_

"I was just about to leave," she replied. "Where are you going?" She scratched affectionately behind one of Cat Steven's ears. Steven could tell she already knew where he was headed, but it was kind of her to ask.

He pulled his shirt back down over his exposed belly. "The car wash. I haven't seen Dad in a while, and he wanted me to visit."

Garnet nodded. "I wanted to tell you to be careful on the boardwalk."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is something gonna happen?"

Her mouth was in a tight line. "Maybe." At Steven's worried expression, she smiled reassuringly. "But, don't worry too much."

Steven let out a sigh of relief. While Garnet's future vision usually came out on top, today she didn't seem concerned, and there were few circumstances where everything turned out fine, even if her foresight said otherwise. And, even _if _something bad happened, she would know, and be right there to help him.

He grinned, and waved her goodbye, snatching his jacket on the way out.

* * *

On his way back from It's a Wash, his mind kept returning to what Garnet had told him, _"be careful on the boardwalk"_. Steven debated walking right through Beach City instead of taking his usual shortcut, but he decided against it. Everything would probably be fine. No one was even around, anyway.

Steven stopped in front of Fish Stew Pizza and made sure to take a good look at the sky, which was turning shades of pink and orange and yellow. The moon was steadily snaking its way over the ocean, casting its reflection on the glassy waters. He sighed. Sometimes the earth really _was _gorgeous.

But suddenly, his body went rigid at the sound of a tiny voice in front of him. A voice he recognized. On the boardwalk.

"Hello, Steven," the voice said. Her sharp, almost British accent he always found amusing pierced the air. He turned slowly— down— to see a Gem, only two feet in stature, skin a cerulean hue, with a small, teardrop-shaped gemstone gleaming under her left eye. She sneered.

He clenched his fists, and barked, "Aquamarine, what are you _doing _here? And where's Eyeball?"

Aquamarine smiled softly, eyes on her hands. Then she frowned. "Oh, the Ruby. Such a shame. She got tired of my ingenious plans to stop you and left. Rubies aren't the smartest Gems, you know."

Steven furrowed his brow. Left, huh? At least that would give him a fair chance of _really talking with Aquamarine without anyone trying to stab him, maybe while bubbling her ridiculous teardrop gem along the way. If she didn't come around, he supposed that would be his last resort._

He summoned his shield unconsciously, and shifted into a fighting stance. She only giggled.

"Oh, you don't need to fight _me_," she replied. "I'm smarter than that."

Steven raised an eyebrow questioningly, before he registered the padding of small feet on the boardwalk behind him. _Shoot, I shouldn't have believed her!_ He barely had the time to turn around before something sharp pierced his side. He made a noise, an acute gasp or hiccup, and looked down.

He recognized one of Eyeball's orange blades... _in _him. It was _in _his _side_. Somehow Eyeball had managed to stab him in the one area his rose-colored shield didn't cover. His eyes widened even further when he spotted a splotch of red growing, bleeding through his clothes and staining his bubblegum-pink jacket.

Eyeball was saying something as she released her grip on the dagger, but for some reason, Steven couldn't make out her words. Something about Pink Diamond. His ears were ringing, and dark spots were distorting his vision. His shield slowly sputtered out of life, and his legs were wobbly.

Suddenly, he was on the ground, Aquamarine's wide blue eyes staring incredulously down at him through the spots. She was saying something too.

"...n't he poof?"

"I don't know... didn't mean to..."

"...is your fault!"

Steven pushed himself to stay awake, but his side was _really _starting to smart, and now felt like a really good time to take a nap.

* * *

Amethyst groaned. "Pearl, turn off your phone, or do _something _to make it stop!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Pearl replied, rushing over to the kitchen table where her phone was ringing. The caller ID read _Kiki_, from Fish Stew Pizza. She frowned. Was something wrong? Did the city need to evacuate again?

"Hello, Kiki, Pearl speaking," she greeted. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your calling?"

At the sound of the Pizza girl's frantic voice, Pearl knew instantly that something was definitely wrong. "Pearl, listen, Steven is unconscious and bleeding on the boardwalk," she said. "He's still alive, and we called an ambulance, but his gem thingy isn't on his stomach anymore..."

Mumbling some sort of reply, she hung up and shakily set her cellular phone back down on the table. Pearl didn't want to listen anymore.

The Gems sprinted as fast as they could to the boardwalk, where a crowd of people and Gems alike, including the Pizza family, the Fryman family, Blue Lace Agate, Barb, Bill Dewey, Bixbite and a few others, surrounded someone lying on the ground. The sound of sirens rang from the distance, but that wasn't what Pearl was focused on. She pushed through the crowd, and saw exactly what she hoped _not _to see.

Steven was lying in a puddle of his own blood, and if that alone wasn't enough to make a Gem shatter on instant, his gemstone wasn't on his navel anymore. His stomach was clean and bare. It lay a few feet away, it's pink, reflective surface showing no life beneath it.

Like herself, Bixbite and Blue Lace were watching his gem, not his body (though of course that was important too), because they, like herself, knew what it meant.

Steven's body was injured, but he was still alive. Why would his gem detach? Steven had been hurt before. It made no sense.

Pearl gingerly picked up the gem— the gem she had only held in her hands once before— and kept it safe and unbroken in her palm while Steven was taken in an ambulance to the hospital.

* * *

**Any thoughts? Please tell me! :)**


	2. Starved of Humanity

Everything was dark. He couldn't see a thing, he could barely think, and he didn't know where he was. He wasn't sure whether he was awake, or even _alive_, at all. He only felt trapped.

He could clearly remember everything that happened before this. But he had been in this void of unconsciousness— or whatever it was— for however long, he didn't know.

Suddenly a bright white light started to glow around him, before the glow turned the pink color of his gem, and he felt ready to escape from whatever he was stuck in. Soon the pink glow dissipated, and his surroundings began to clear. He could feel the cold floor beneath his feet— so he was standing. Then he could clearly see that he was standing in a perfectly square, white room, with plastic chairs a cobalt blue color lining the walls. The door on one end of the room led to a larger room filled with chairs, one buzzing with people and conversation, and the door on the opposite end was closed.

Little things like posters and magazines stacked on small side tables told him exactly where he was. An empty hospital waiting room.

He frowned. But... wasn't he... why was he _here? _Shouldn't he be in his own hospital room in a bed with IVs dripping stuff into his veins? Shouldn't he still be unconscious after _that_?

Then he looked down, and quickly realized he wasn't Steven.

His skin— or just an illusion of human skin— was bright pink. So were his clothes, so was his hair. He didn't feel like Steven. His gem was in its usual spot on his stomach, but he wasn't Steven.

He was his Gem half. Or just the gem. Or Steven's source of energy, or Pink Steven... anything but what he wanted to be.

"But you had to have seen something as important as this!" a voice stammered behind the closed door on his right. "This isn't something you ignore. He could have died, Garnet!"

He stood up straight and listened. That sounded like Pearl.

"It was a very unlikely possibility," Garnet replied evenly, her voice slightly muffled behind the door. "I saw an encounter. I saw this, but there was a single future where Steven wouldn't see her coming. I didn't ignore it. I did warn him."

Pearl sounded choked up. She had obviously been crying. "You should have gone with him. I can hardly look at him like... this."

Pink Steven clenched his fists the slightest bit, but his eyes remained still and emotionless. He hadn't heard them fight like this— or at all— since the Sardonyx incident.

Another voice piped in. "I'm... going to check on his gem." So, Amethyst was in there, too.

The door creaked open— and his eyes snapped to the boy lying on the hospital bed with his eyes closed, mouth drawn, and his skin pale. This Steven was hooked up to several life-support machines, including one connected to a blood transfusion bag.

So it was serious.

He finally turned to the wide-eyed face of Amethyst staring at him. After a while, she shakily raised her hand and did a little half-wave, and managed a "hey."

He blinked. Then nodded. Should he act friendly like Steven always did? No, because he wasn't Steven. If anything, it would be disrespectful.

"Guys," she spoke up. "He's back."

Pearl peeked her head around the corner, her jaw dropping at the sight of him. Garnet showed up behind her. They all looked awestruck, but there was still a flicker of concern on all of their faces.

"You reformed," Garnet commented, taking away her visor and revealing all three of her eyes. That usually meant she was either emotional, or curious. In this situation it might as well have been both.

He nodded again.

Amethyst smirked and, forgetting about the injured human side of their companion for a moment, walked right up to the Gem and examined him from head to toe. Probably due to his holographic-looking pink image unique to only him, she poked him once in the shoulder to make sure he was solid. He was.

"Man, show some emotion already," she said. She took his face in her lilac hands to look at him, played with his hair, fingered his clothes— acting just like the usual clingy Amethyst, probably hoping to calm him down. He couldn't exactly say he was anxious, though. She was, most likely, more stressed than he was, so he managed a small smile to make her feel better.

But, then he gently pried her hands off him. "How is he?" he finally asked. He saw Pearl and Amethyst flinch at the odd echoey edge to his voice that Steven never had, but he chose to ignore it.

"He... he's not... _great_," Pearl settled on saying. "We should probably get a doctor to tell you this; I didn't really understand all of it."

Apparently the ambulance had taken Steven's human half to the hospital where Mrs. Maheswaran worked. Connie's mother had come as soon as the Gems called for her. Her dark eyes widened at the sight of him, a pink projection of the person lying unconscious in her hospital, but she shook her head and went along with it.

"Whatever punctured him, we're assuming some sort of knife—"

"It was a dagger," he interrupted, that same inhuman edge to his voice echoing through the room. He flinched this time, immediately regretting the correction.

Mrs. Maheswaran cleared her throat. She was beginning to look uncomfortable. "Yes, well... whatever it was, it missed the major organs— like the lungs, the kidneys. Our biggest concern was blood loss, but we've got that taken care of. I think it'll be best for him to stay here a couple more days, and when he does get taken home he'll still be ordered strict bed rest."

He nodded. Hopefully he'd be Steven again as soon as his human side was awake, and not stuck as this ripped-apart Gem half for long. He wanted to thank her, but he didn't want to make her, or anyone else, any more uncomfortable.

After Mrs. Maheswaran left, the Gems stared at him a little longer before returning to the hospital room. He moved to follow them, but Amethyst paused in the doorway in front of him, blocking his path.

"You sure?" she asked.

He nodded firmly. She shrugged, and let him in.

This Steven hadn't moved since the Gem had first glanced his way. His eyes were still shut, his body still stiff, but now he could clearly see just how pale his skin was, and how dark his eyes were. He looked almost exactly the same as he did the last time they were... torn apart... but, this time he didn't have Connie here to hold him up.

He wore the clothes that Steven had been wearing before, since his gem could only sport a holographic image of them. Through the tear where Eyeball's dagger had cut through he could clearly see a glaringly white layer of gauze, that most likely covered his stitches.

Without knowing it, Pink Steven had tightened his fists and bit his lip to the point where Steven would have drawn blood— but he was a _Gem_, he didn't have quirks or habits like Steven did.

He relaxed, but when he opened his eyes, they quite obviously held back a lot of rage.

"I'm going to shatter them," he muttered, turning to the door...

...but Garnet stepped in front of him, placing her two gem-embedded hands on his shoulders to stop him. He turned his furious eyes to Garnet's visor, so she could see them. His irises were no longer a soft brown like Steven's, they were pink, with diamond-shaped pupils.

"We don't shatter Gems," she told him.

He gritted his teeth. "They _deserve _it."

Garnet's frown deepened, and he could see his rosy reflection in her visor. _The Visor of Shame_, he used to call it as a kid.

"Steven wouldn't shatter anyone," Garnet replied.

He went still. No, Steven... Steven _wouldn't _do that. He looked away, giving in. She relaxed, and after giving his shoulder an affectionate squeeze, walked back over to Pearl and Amethyst. He could still spot some turmoil between Pearl and Garnet, but there was nothing he could do to help.

He'd be a bigger help if he were Steven.

* * *

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	3. Visitors

**Thank you alexandra.ross.902 for reviewing! And also to anyone who favorited or followed.**

**This chapter was originally going to be 3,000 words, but since it was so much longer I cut it and combined it with the next one. Enjoy!**

**. . .**

Pink Steven sat, back straight and hands folded in his lap, in one of the blue chairs in the hospital's main waiting room. It had been a whole night since he had last seen his human counterpart. Pearl and Garnet had stayed with him in the room the whole time while Amethyst chose to sleep things away. He didn't want to sleep, however, that was something _Steven _did, but he stayed next to her in the waiting room while she snored.

Even if he, as a Gem, _needed _to sleep, he was sure he wouldn't have been able to. His situation alone was as stressful as heck, and all the talking and shouting and other loud noises coming from everywhere in this hospital wouldn't have helped.

One hollering visitor was loud enough to drown out the whole waiting room, and he recognized that voice. The man was quarreling with a young woman at her desk, saying things like "but he's my _son_," and "I need to see him!"

That man, of course, was Steven's dad.

Greg was wearing the green zip-up sweater he often wore during the fall, but he had also recognized his dull brown hair, of which he had cut short using Eyeball's dagger to get away from Aquamarine, after the two had fused to form Bluebird Azurite and trick the Gems. His expression darkened at the memory, but he pushed it aside and stepped up to the desk.

"Dad," he spoke up, as soon as he was close enough.

Greg turned to him, and his face blanched. He examined the boy in front of him from head to toe, and his expression went from confused to looking even _more _confused. "S-Steven?" he asked hesitantly.

Pink Steven frowned. "No."

Greg raised an eyebrow. "Uh... oh, okay. I'm sorry to say that I only have oneson, and _he _calls me 'Dad'."

He knew his father meant it as a joke, but he ignored the effort by grabbing Greg's wrist and tugging him over to the row of chairs he and Amethyst had claimed as their own. Greg followed this version of his son, puzzled but not wanting to ask questions, for fear of breaking his vow to not mess with "Gem stuff".

"So, Schtu-ball," Greg began awkwardly. Pink Steven turned to him, and saw beads of sweat decorating his dad's forehead— he was obviously nervous.

"How... how're you doin'?" he asked.

Pink Steven blinked, his expression unreadable. "_I _can take you to his room. I know you want to see him."

Greg looked surprised, but he shook his head. "That's alright. I know he's _alive_, and well... that's fantastic. I guess I can wait until the doctors let me in there," he tried to sound amusing.

There was a pause. Then, he repeated, more seriously, "So how _are _you doing?"

"Fine."

"Y'know, Steven told me about his gem detaching a couple years ago. I'm... guessing that's who you are?"

Pink Steven self-consciously fingered the gem on his stomach through his shirt. He was glad his dad had been kind enough to say _who you are _and not _what you are_, but at that moment, he didn't really feel like a _who_. "Mm hmm. I remember."

Somehow that didn't make Greg feel any more comfortable.

Pink Steven closed his eyes, suddenly considering sleep. He shouldn't feel uncomfortable— he wasn't supposed to feel emotion without his human counterpart. But, ditching the idea, he reopened his eyes and turned back to his dad. If he couldn't sleep these feelings away, he could try talking. But it wasn't his favorite, or even best, pastime.

"I don't know what to do," he said finally.

Greg raised his eyebrows. "Huh?"

"I want to be Steven again," he admitted.

Greg looked clueless. "I... uh, why don't you just... um," he made a vague gesture with his hands, making his two pointer fingers touch each other. "Go back together?"

Pink Steven sighed. "The Gems won't let me."

"What? Why?"

He laughed. For the first time since he had reformed, laughed, a hollow, caustic laugh. "I almost _died_. They want me to wait until he can stand."

This time Greg only raised one eyebrow, in a questioning way. "I thought Steven said he _couldn't _stand without you."

"He can't."

That's when the woman at the desk called through her tiny microphone, "Mr. Universe?"

Greg stood up, brushing imaginary dust off his lap— or maybe real dust, he couldn't tell— before turning back to the spitting pink image of his son. "Guess I should go. You wanna come with me?"

Pink Steven shook his head. "I've seen enough."

**. . .**

_"Return to the beach house? But what if his human half gets worse?"_

_"We... think it will be best."_

_"He can stay there until his human half is fully healed. We'll bring him back home then, and we can see Steven again. That is, if you're alright with it?__"_

It was around noon in Beach City, the sun reflecting off the ocean and making anyone who looked towards it squint. On the plot of land behind the city and opposite the great Atlantic, the horizon displayed autumn hues due to the leaves changing color with the season. Steven always thought his home looked _so _beautiful every day of the year... whether it had been blinding sunlight in the summer, flakes of snow in the winter, or flowers in the spring.

Pink Steven tried to see what Steven always saw in the beach, but at that moment, it all looked like sand and rock. Amethyst strutted along beside him as they headed for the beach house, where he would stay until his other half got better.

But he couldn't help but wonder: _would _he get better? The last time they were apart, his human half could hardly stand, and Connie had to hold him up. If he was weak on his own, how would his health improve without his gem there to give him energy?

Even if he didn't approve of it, he obeyed the Gems and went back home with Amethyst to keep him in line.

Amethyst turned to him, lavender lips pursed, and scanned him skeptically. "You walk weird."

Pink Steven stopped, looking blankly down at his feet. He had been walking in tight, almost robotic steps, his arms swaying slightly where they stood at his sides. He wouldn't say he walked _unusually_, but compared to Amethyst's casual strut and Steven's more relaxed steps, he supposed he did walk differently.

Not knowing for sure what to say, he replied, "Sorry."

Amethyst was the first to reach the door, with Pink Steven following just behind her. She threw open the screen door, and flicked on the light, letting out a relieved sigh.

"Well, _that _was interesting," she said, the comment spoken with her facing the warp pad, but Pink Steven knew it was directed to him. "I think I'm just gonna hang in my room. You good with that?"

He nodded as she turned to look at him. Amethyst smiled gratefully in response, before the deep purple gem on her chest glowed briefly, and the door to her room in the temple opened. After she left, the house was quiet.

Pink Steven's glance flicked to the steps, his gaze pausing on the painting of Rose Quartz, before he turned back to the temple door. Steven's room was for Steven, but maybe he could stay in his mother's room to pass the time. He stood there, considering the thought, when a noise on the deck caught his attention. A flurry of voices was heard outside, before the screen door was thrown open once again and a green ball of energy just a foot shorter than him greeted him.

"Steven!" Peridot exclaimed, her dark green eyes gleaming excitedly under her visor. "We came to say hi!"

Following her came Bismuth and Lapis Lazuli, looking much less awkwardly optimistic and more... concerned. Bismuth smiled softly, stepping up to him with her flint-gray arm extended.

"Hello there," she greeted. "Do you know who we are?"

Pink Steven nodded. Yes, he knew who they were. Though he _hadn't _met the three of them personally, he had all the memories Steven had intact. He shook her hand, appreciating the strength and warmth behind it and admiring her tattoos from the rebellion. Bismuth had always found a special place in Steven's heart— no more than Peridot and Lapis, of course— but she had something that a lot of even his closest friends didn't have: understanding. She respected him when he didn't want to talk. But Lapis stayed behind the larger Gem, eyeing him cautiously from a distance.

She didn't trust him when he wasn't Steven. Like Bismuth, he respected that.

"We heard what happened," Lapis explained. "Peridot wanted to see you."

Peridot nodded. "Yup." A soda can was hovering just above her chartreuse fingers, accomplishment written on her smirk.

Pink Steven blinked without a response. Peridot waited for him to smile, to tell them how happy he was to see them, but when he didn't, her grin faded.

"Ste... Steven?" she asked hesitantly.

Lapis frowned. "He's not Steven, Peridot."

The Gem sighed. "Oh." Looking up at him, she replied, "I apologize for the misunderstanding," in the business-like voice she used to use for the Diamonds.

He nodded again, grateful that she got it— or at least understood the _basics _of his predicament. He wanted to make them feel better _somehow_, but to be fair, he didn't know how. If his human half was here, he would know.

The door to the temple opened again, and Amethyst stepped out with her eyes on the ceiling. "Just checking in, how's it... oh, hey Peri." Upon recognizing their guests, she nodded to Lapis and Bismuth.

"Hey Amethyst!" Peridot replied socially. Lapis only narrowed her eyes, her jaw tight.

"Can I... talk to you, Amethyst?" she asked slowly. Amethyst only shrugged, and as the blue Gem passed Pink Steven to get to her, her eyes followed him the whole time. So he stared back.

Bismuth chuckled stiffly as the two exchanged in hushed whispers by the warp pad, beads of sweat shining on her silver forehead. "Heh, so, how's everything going? We haven't seen you since... since..."

"Never!" Peridot answered, forcibly enthusiastic.

Pink Steven wasn't paying as much attention to them as he was the two Gems at the warp pad. He couldn't make out a lot of whatever they were saying. Lapis looked furious, and Amethyst seemed angry with whatever Lapis was telling her, and frankly uncomfortable as well. He did catch things like "What are you going to _do _with him?" and "He can't stay here, he's a Dia—"

"Hey, hey, what if we did something?" Bismuth interrupted.

Pink Steven turned to her. "Something?"

Peridot caught on, her eyes wide. "Oh, yes, something!"

"Let's go outside while Lapis and Amethyst talk, and..." Bismuth struggled to find the right words.

But Pink Steven knew. They wanted to distract him. And, he supposed he needed a distraction. So, he suggested something he knew Bismuth would enjoy. "Training?"

Her dark eyes widened. "Training? I dunno, there's not much to train for, with the Diamond Authority gone and whatnot... but I'm game."

"Oh, yeah!" Peridot grinned. "Got any metal trash cans?"


	4. Jam Buds

**Thanks to technictyler for reviewing! And anyone who favorited and followed!**

* * *

"Don't wanna get rusty," Bismuth told them, shapeshifting her massive hands into hammers and slamming them into the beach. Peridot was handling her trash can lid with ease, tossing it to and fro like a frisbee as Steven used to do with his shield, before catching it mid-air and drawing it back down to her for another throw. But, Pink Steven only stood a few feet off, not sure what he should do.

He'd seen a few of his powers in action as a Gem, without his human half there to hold anything back. He'd seen his shield— the one made of rose-colored geometric panels, not Steven's usual spiraled shield— and his... scream...

He didn't want to use them, not now. He had only used his raw powers when he absolutely needed to, or when he just couldn't keep them in. He could slice through any organic material with the sharp edges of his shield, and easily crack walls or even Gems with his scream. As Steven, he was supposed to use his powers to build, to heal. Not hurt.

He _definitely _couldn't hurt Bismuth or Peridot.

"C'mon, Pink Steven," Bismuth urged, using the name that Amethyst had begun to call him. "Show us what you're made of!"

Peridot's trash can lid swooped down from behind and nicked him in the shoulder. He jumped back in surprise. "Yeah!" she agreed.

Pink Steven hesitantly lifted his hand, and summoned a small pentagonal pink shape at the tips of his fingers. When his fingers spread out, the shape expanded. When he tightened his hand into a fist, it contracted. He watched Bismuth charge at him, her hammers prepared to slam him into the sand.

When she leaped, he spread his arms out in front of him, and the shape screened his whole body, even more so. Her hammers hit the shield as a mallet would a gong. Shocked, she stood back up, and smirked.

"Nice," she congratulated. But, Bismuth didn't stop. She continued to press on him, and every time she swung at him, another pink shape would block him from her attacks. Peridot's metal lid continued to strafe him from several directions, and he did his best to avoid it. All in all, he was doing pretty well.

In a moment, he was able to get away from Bismuth, and sweep Peridot's legs out from under her, ceasing her trash can lid attacks. Then he made his way back to Bismuth and, throwing himself at the larger Gem, kicked her in the thoracic region on her back. Stunned by his sudden attack, her knees buckled and she fell to the ground.

Peridot was laughing. Bismuth chuckled as well, brushing the sand off her overalls as she stood up.

"Haven't had a fight like that in almost three years," she commented. "Great job, but if anyone's still out there that has a bone to pick with you, we need to be even better."

There Bismuth went again. Always with her speeches, her inspiring words that could make any Gem ready to fight a Diamond. But then she went too far.

"Take Spinel for example," she added. "Or Aquamarine, or Eye...ball..."

Her eyes widened. Pink Steven's attention had snapped to her. The floodgates opened and his mind filled with memories of the Diamonds. Of Eyeball hurting him. His mom.

It was too much. The bottle he used to bury the feelings he didn't want to mess with had overflowed. Thousands of tiny pink triangles and pentagons were appearing out of the air surrounding him, and his gem began to shine through his shirt.

"Don't," Pink Steven warned, his voice dangerously close to using that scream of his. Bismuth had taken a step back, making sure to block the path between him and Peridot, who was still on the ground.

"Don't say her name again," he finished. He was trying desperately to calm down, he was, but without his humanity he had little to no control. The beach had gone full pink. The sand reflected the pink aura of his gem, the waves did it too, and he could even see Lapis and Amethyst exiting the beach house, their faces showing nothing but fear.

"What?" Peridot asked, oblivious. "The Ruby?"

Pink Steven let out a cry, and the sound of it only made his stomach twist even more, but at least it wasn't the scream. As he scraped for anything left of him that wasn't angry or sad or any of those other complicated feelings, the pink glow began to fade, and the Gems eventually sighed in relief. But he was still curled up on the beach, refusing eye contact with anyone.

After a while, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. Bismuth sighed.

"Don't be. I get it."

Pink Steven stood up, his eyes still on the ground. He promised himself he'd do better. That he could control his new pink powers. He probably just convinced Lapis Lazuli even more that he couldn't be trusted.

Bismuth _didn't _get it. He scowled.

"The Gems have to bring him back soon. I can't be here much longer."

* * *

It was morning. The sun was almost over the ocean now, its rays shining through the windows of the beach house and settling on Pink Steven, who sat on the living room couch, reading a book. Or, reading what he could. He wasn't too interested.

He hadn't slept a wink last night. Or the last three nights, either. Pearl and Garnet and his dad were still at the hospital with his human counterpart. He hadn't heard any news since Bismuth, Peridot, and Lapis left last evening. He didn't know if he was doing better, if he had woken up yet, nothing.

So, to pass the time, he messed around with whatever pointless games he could find. Right now, he was rereading some books Connie gifted Steven a couple years ago. They were fantasy, of course.

The last time Amethyst had checked on him was a couple hours ago. He guessed she would revisit in a few minutes to get a snack. So until then, he had to kill time _somehow_.

His eyes strayed from the book and landed on the door of the temple. It had been an agonizing seventy-two hours, and all he wanted was to see how his human half was fairing. Or just another distraction. Amethyst was pretty good at those.

Then he perked up, eyes on the house door, when he heard footsteps.

"Steven? _Steven_?" A familiar figure appeared on the porch. Her white blouse was buttoned in all the wrong ways, her dark hair was wild and a bit staticky, and her eyes were wide. She pulled open the screen door in a frenzy, and he stood up.

Her eyes landed on him, and without hesitation, she grinned wide in relief and threw herself at him. "Steven!"

He hugged her back as tightly as he could. Her nose was buried in his jacket, where he could feel a wet spot growing as she cried. He buried his own nose by her neck, where her hair smelled like strawberries.

_Connie_.

At some point, however, she opened her umber eyes and noticed the odd pink glow, and stepped back in surprise. She released her grip on him and stood about a yard away. He tried not to look hurt.

"Oh," Connie breathed. "It's you."

Her eyes wandered to his stomach, where his gem would be.

Oh, that's right. He shouldn't have expected anything else. The last time he had seen Connie, it was after he used _the scream_. Just like everybody else, she didn't trust him.

She hurriedly wiped the tears off her tanned cheek with the palm of her hand. "I-I heard... my mom told me you were hurt, that you were at the hospital— I didn't, I didn't know what to do, she told me not to come, so I just went to your house instead." She sniffed, and turned to him, still shaken-up. "What happened?"

Pink Steven looked down at himself, his eyes trailing slowly over his petal-pink form. He wasn't _entirely _sure why he had to split, since everything that happened when he was attacked was really all a blur, but... "I think I was hurt, too. Not just Steven's body. Something just... pushed me away."

He hated that he couldn't find the right words.

Connie sniffed again, now much calmer. "I guess that makes sense. Since Gems have to retreat into their gems when they're hurt, maybe that's what happened to you. You just never had the chance to get to your... body again."

He nodded. When Steven was hurt before— whether it had been as small as a paper cut, or as serious as a concussion— he wasn't damaged at all. This time he was just unlucky.

He hoped with all of his being that it wouldn't happen again.

Connie sighed, and looked back up at him. "Any updates?" she asked.

"The Gems haven't said anything since yesterday," he shook his head. "Last I saw he was still on blood transfusion."

She bit her lip, then nodded firmly. "Alright. I'm gonna call my parents, and I'm gonna stay here with you until you two are Steven again."

Pink Steven was genuinely surprised. "Really?"

"Yup," she replied, popping the _p_.

"Then I can—"

Connie put her hand on his shoulder, and he cut off abruptly, staring at her. She shrunk a little bit at the sudden attention, or maybe she was intimidated by the diamond-shaped pupils. He wasn't sure.

"No, you don't worry about a thing," she insisted. "I know where the sleeping bags are, and everything else."

He furrowed his brow, then replied, "You can have his bed. I can't sleep."

"You mean you _won't _sleep."

"Either one."

She sighed. "I... whatever. If you're _sure_." He nodded. "Alright."

That's when Amethyst showed up for her seventh check-in, said hi, and Pink Steven and Connie got to work setting up for her stay. Steven's puffy white comforter was set on the floor at the foot of his bed, movies were lined up, snacks were ready (mostly for Connie, he wasn't in the mood to eat), and finally, they were ready for the most tense sleepover in Gem history.

* * *

"And... and remember Jam Buds?" Connie asked. "We used to have so much fun messing around like that when we were younger." There was a familiar look in her eyes. They shone like stars, as if they were made from a droplet of the galaxy.

Pink Steven looked down at his hands, where they were, once again, folded in his lap. He nodded, the breath of a smile on his face.

"And when we'd make up songs together, and sing duets," she sighed. "We weren't bad. At least, _I _thought so."

He nodded again.

"I still have my old violin somewhere, I think." Connie put her chin in her hand, eyes miles away and brow drawn. "Maybe it's in my room. Or my closet. Do you still have that ukulele?"

For that, Pink Steven actually had to think. Where _did _Steven put that? He hadn't played it in at least a year, after he grew out of the tiny instrument. He moved on to his dad's larger acoustic guitar, but he couldn't have gotten _rid _of the ukulele... could he?

No. There was no way. He must've left it with Dad, or kept it in storage, or _somewhere_, it was still in the temple/beach house.

"Probably," he shrugged. "I don't know where."

There was a pause.

"I know it's horrible, but I kinda miss us... y'know, fighting side-by-side."

Connie yawned, and he frowned. "I didn't fight with you."

She stopped mid-yawn. Her lips were pursed. She was uncomfortable. "I know, but like... you were there."

Connie was looking at his stomach. Where his gem was.

His frown deepened, and he covered the gem from her line of sight with his hand. "I _wasn't _there," he argued. "_Steven _was."

Her eyes widened, and she quickly muttered a "sorry" before he continued. He guessed he couldn't blame her. Their last meeting hadn't been _too _great... he had to've scared her.

But he was tired of it. Of the Gems and whoever else seeing him as just _Steven's gem_. That everything else came from Steven's human half, that he was just a source of uncontrollable energy and power. He had feelings too... he just wasn't good with them...

He wasn't Steven. He wasn't Rose, and he wasn't Pink Diamond, and he wasn't just some Gem. He didn't _know _what he was.

Pink Steven sighed, that same weird edge to his voice bothering him, just like _everything else _about his _stupid self_. "It's late. You should probably get some sleep, if any."

Connie nodded stiffly. "Yeah, alright." Then she looked him in the eye. "But only if you get some, too."

He was surprised, but not too much. He sighed again, leaving to grab a sleeping bag, because he still promised Connie the bed.

* * *

"Ste— Pink Steven, Pink... c'mon, wake _up_."

Pink Steven's eyes snapped open, and he shot into a sitting position, startling Connie. The sunlight pouring in from the slide door window landed just at the edge of the glass. He looked at the clock (which read _12:46 pm— _oh _stars_, had he really been asleep that long?) and then to Connie, who still seemed to be recovering from her latest heart attack.

He flinched. "S...orry."

Giving him a weak smile and a thumbs-up, she hurriedly replied, "It's fine. I should be apologizing, I didn't want to bother you, but my mom just texted me."

He rubbed his eyes and stretched, trying to bring some life back into his limbs. Then he stood up, and turned his full attention to Connie. "Is it about him?"

_What are we supposed to call _him_? If I'm "Pink Steven"... goodness, this is getting confusing._

She nodded, quite obviously holding back some excitement. "She said he's good to come home. The Gems are bringing him back today."

* * *

**Thank you for reading! Reviews are always appreciated. :)**


	5. Fused Passion, Torn Stitches

**Last chapter! This story was pretty short and I would have loved to write more, but I just couldn't. Hopefully I'll get to write more fics on Steven Universe. We'll see what happens!**

**Big thanks to Animago for reviewing, and anyone else who favorited and followed! This story got more favs and follows than my last story, that I worked on for months! You guys are awesome!**

* * *

Life really was a mystery. One minute, you're having a blast with your guitar dad at the car wash, and the next, you're stabbed by a tempestuous Gem that's half your size and the color of cherries.

And then, of course, you just _have_ to wake up in the hospital with someone else's blood being pumped into your veins, _without _your gem, and _with _an anxious Pearl, an overwhelmingly stressed dad, and Garnet... being Garnet.

Of course, he couldn't worry about that now, because while he didn't have the strength to stand up on his _own_, he was also stuck in Garnet's arms bridal-style, entirely exhausted, and still a bit loopy from the pain meds.

When Garnet gently lifted him out of the van, courtesy of Greg, he could hear Amethyst coming down from the beach house to meet them.

"Hey there, Steve-O," she greeted heartily. "Took you long enough."

He cracked his eyes open as much as he dared, and gave her a little smile to say, _hey, I'm doing great_, because he didn't really feel like saying it out loud.

Pearl frowned. "Amethyst, give him some space."

"Fine, but he just got here!"

"Steven!" came a familiar voice. Connie was the next to exit the beach house, and just as she was racing down the steps, another figure came out onto the deck.

His eyes widened a bit further. No, no, a _lot _further. Because this was the guy he'd been thinking about for the past _four days_. And despite the fact that the two of them were several yards apart and a few feet's difference in altitude, their eyes met _instantly_. As if on cue, almost... automatically.

Time seemed to stop for a solid minute as the two of them stared each other down. The Gems noticed it, and so did Greg and Connie.

Steven quickly tugged on Garnet's arm, refusing to break the eye contact between him and the pink being on his porch. "Can we... go over there..."

Garnet hummed in thought. Then, she replied, "You're still healing."

"Yes, fusion might not be the best option at this point," Pearl agreed matter-of-factly. "You could tear your stitches."

He looked desperately up at Garnet, "But—" and stopped when his Gem half started to move.

Connie had reached him by now, and promptly gave him a peck on the cheek— making him blush furiously in response— but blocked his view of Pink Steven. When she moved, Steven saw him standing directly across from them on the beach, just a few yards away.

"No," Steven replied, turning back to the Gems. "You guys don't understand. I _need _him."

The Gems weren't there, the last time he split up. Well, they were there, but they weren't in their right minds. They didn't see how much Steven really needed to be together. They couldn't see how _weak _his human half was without his Gem half, when he _wasn't_ injured.

"You're going to hurt yourselves," Pearl argued. "If we just wait a few more days—"

But Pink Steven wasn't listening to her. He took another step closer, and another, with only one goal in mind.

Pearl ordered, "Pink, stop."

His head snapped to Pearl, his feet screeched to a stop. "Then bring him to me," he retorted, his voice raised and echoing across the beach.

Her eyes widened. The rest of the Gems, including Greg, Connie, and even Steven were also shocked.

"Don't talk to us like that!" she finally told him.

Garnet took a careful step backward with Steven's fragile human half still bridal carried in her arms, knowing full well what was about to happen next. "You need to calm down. We're trying to help you."

But he wasn't listening to _anybody_. This situation was too close to the one in White Diamond's head... with someone keeping him away from his other half.

"Pink... Pink _Steven_..."

"_Bring him to me!_"

His statement started as a low rumble, but quickly escalated to a high-pitched shriek at the end. A flash of bright pink tore across the beach. The ground began to shake, and the ocean's waves stuttered and went back a step.

Steven clapped both hands over his ears. He had used it. The scream.

Even after he had finished his scream, the beach continued to quiver. A large crater had formed in the sand under Pink Steven's feet. An even larger crack had made its way up the side of the cliff near Steven's home.

Garnet had to steady herself to keep from dropping Steven. Looking around, he could see that Connie had dropped to her knees and Amethyst had fallen backwards.

"Stop! Stop it, please!" Steven cried. His ears were ringing and tears were beginning to make his vision fuzzy.

Pink Steven turned to him. The quakes ceased.

Then, his shoulders started to quiver, and tears rolled down his own face. He was already pink, but if he wasn't, Steven was sure his cheeks would be flushed anyway. This sudden show of emotion was definitely surprising... last time he had been completely stone-faced, stone-cold.

"I-I need him," he finally told Garnet, weakly, repeating what his human half had insisted just three years ago.

Garnet bit her lip, expression nearly unreadable under her visor. But he could tell she was considering it.

Steven turned to her. Garnet turned to Pearl. Behind them, Amethyst was helping Connie back to her feet, and Greg was watching the exchange with wide eyes.

Pearl was silent for a minute. Then, she replied softly, "Let's... talk about it."

* * *

Steven was certain that his bed had never felt this comfortable.

As the Gems left him and Connie in Steven's bedroom, he pulled the covers up to his nose and tried to snug even deeper into his mattress. Now, he hadn't been in many hospitals, but if anyone asked for his opinion on the matter he would tell them that _their _mattresses felt like _cardboard_.

Connie sighed, leaning heavily against the opposite wall. "Man, this has been quite a day."

"Hasn't it?" he hummed agreeably, mentally rolling his eyes.

She moaned. "This is _torture_. What are they even talking about down there?" she asked, turning to the closed door. "Don't they know that without your gem you're gonna... gonna..."

"Die, basically," he replied bluntly, into his pillow.

"That is _not _something you joke about, Steven," Connie reprimanded. "Where is Pink Steven, anyway?"

Steven lifted his head and looked out the window. The sky was turning shades of purple and dark blue, the typical colors of dusk, leaving the sand a dusty pink. Amethyst and his other half were nowhere to be found.

"He was s'posed to stay outside with Amethyst again, but he's not there." He plumped his curly head back down on the pillow and closed his eyes.

But Connie stood straight up. "_What_? Where'd they go?"

"I dunno," he mumbled in response. "Prolly somewhere else."

He heard Connie gasp all of the sudden, and then a knock on the glass slide door to his balcony. His eyes popped open immediately, and jumped when he saw Pink Steven standing patiently on the other side of the glass. Amethyst was pulling herself up and over the wooden railing after climbing all the way up there, cackling while she did it.

They had _climbed _up to see him. Like the other Gems told them not to. And, he was certain that Pink Steven's intentions weren't to talk.

He grinned, shifting in his bed, his hand reaching for the door's handle— when a sharp pain in his side stopped him. _Very _sharp. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying desperately not to black out from the pain. Stars, he still couldn't move.

"Steven!" Connie exclaimed. When she rushed over to help him he stopped her, and instead pointed silently to the door. She made eye contact with Pink Steven and Amethyst, then nodded.

The previously locked door now slid open with ease, allowing the Quartz and Steven's other half inside. Amethyst was still grinning naughtily.

_Pearl won't be happy we disobeyed. But when we're Steven again, what does it matter?_

Steven hesitantly reached for his Gem's fluorescent pink hand, and in a moment, could feel his strength returning as soon as they made contact. As soon as Pink Steven touched his human half's hand, he could feel multiple emotions start to bubble from inside him— love, passion, joy— stuff he hadn't bothered with before.

The feeling made both of them laugh. Pink Steven scooped his human half into his arms— smiling happily, shoulders shaking with rapture— and threw him into the air. When he caught him again, both of them disappeared in a flash of light.

And there was Steven.

His hair was tangled, and his jacket was torn from the force when he fused, but his eyes were shiny, and he was still suppressing giggles.

Amethyst stepped forward and punched him lightly in the shoulder. "It's been too long, dude," she said.

He grinned, brushing a stray tear from his eye with the palm of his hand. "Definitely."

"Steven!" Connie surged forward, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing as tight as a giant anaconda. Steven smiled in response to the gesture, then—

"Oh, _ow—_" he flinched and pressed a hand to his side, while sucking in air through his teeth. Connie went back a step and gasped.

She grimaced. "Oh my gosh, Steven, I forgot about your stitches."

Then, the door slammed open.

* * *

Two weeks later, Steven was as good as new.

Well, he wasn't _exactly _the same as before. Now he had a sore-looking scar above his right hip as long as his index finger to show off.

But, as he leaned against the hard wood of his balcony's railing, watching once again as the sky turned a deep blue and the moon creeped up above the ocean, he really was glad that it was all over. He was tired of the Gems' fussing about him for so long. He was glad he was healed.

Steven frowned as a disturbing thought crossed his mind. Aquamarine and Eyeball _were _still out there, hating him, with the Ruby's orange knife and even a cutlass, if they fused again.

But, he sighed, turning his attention to a single star that had just appeared below the moon. Yeah, they were out there, but he was determined to pay more attention when they _did _show up again.

Steven shivered when a chilly breeze blew in from the ocean, and he quickly pulled his shirt back down over his stomach.

And, he'd make sure to get some new clothes.


End file.
